Career Education Corp. has agreed to wipe out $38.6 million in student loan debts for some 12,600 Pennsylvanians to settle allegations that it used deceptive practices to entice them into enrolling in the now defunct Sanford-Brown College, according to the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office.
Sanford-Brown had three locations in the state — in Pittsburgh, Wilkins and Philadelphia.
The agreement is part of a nationwide settlement with attorneys general in 49 states under which Career Education will release $493.7 million in debts owed by 179,529 students across the country.
Some of the allegations against Career Education included deceiving students about enrollment costs and the rate that graduates got jobs in their field of study, and misleading them about program accreditation and the transferability of credits into Career Education schools and out of those schools into other institutions.
Career Education has denied the allegations.
The company, based in Schaumburg, Ill., has closed or phased out many of its schools over the last 10 years. Currently it offers primarily online courses through American InterContinental University and Colorado Technical University.
“Thousands of Pennsylvanians who where misled and deceived by the false promises of this for-profit corporation will see their loan debt eliminated,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement Thursday. “Students who pay tuition to attend these or any other college deserve a fair deal and an honest representation to them of what they’re paying for. This corporation and its colleges failed to do that.”
Besides Sanford-Brown, other defunct Career Education-affiliated schools include Briarcliffe College, Brooks Institute, Brown College, Harrington College of Design, International Academy of Design & Technology, Le Cordon Bleu and Missouri College.
The nationwide settlement includes students who attended a Career Education school that closed before Jan. 1, 2019. It also includes students of American InterContinental and Colorado Technical whose final day of attendance was on or before Dec. 31, 2013.
Pennsylvania students with questions about eligibility for debt relief under the settlement may contact the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office at 800-441-2555.
Patricia Sabatini: PSabatini@post-gazette.com; 412-263-3066.
Updated at 5:55 p.m. Jan. 3, 2019
First Published: January 3, 2019, 10:32 p.m.